User Reviews

The locale for this French sub-titled film is a locked fortress-like school for poor boys from broken homes, WWII orphans and juvenile delinquents, very Dickensian in feel. The principal of the school,is a detestable man who abuses students and teachers equally. You've seen the plot before, of course, and some of the characters are "stock" sorts. But the acting of the lead, the teacher who "saves" the students by luring them into singing, is portrayed charmingly by Gerard Jugnot. Mostly bald, a bit stocky and no beauty, he is nonetheless disarming. The boy soprano, Jean-Baptiste Maunier, has a wonderful voice, and the chorus is splendid. Particularly fine was the score, almost entirely original, by Bruno Colais. I was looking for something inspiring on this bitter cold inaugural day in the U.S. Les Choristes made my spirit soar and reaffirmed that kindness, generosity of self and the gift of music still have the power to change people's lives.

A delicious movie. Something wonderful is going to happen and I am not talking just about the characters of the movie but the spectators. It's so moving and at the same time it is not a sentimental one. The freedom, the excitement, the amazing charm of discovering the life through the music... I don't know French and I can say that the soundtrack is so international that you don't need to understand the words to feel its power, to receive the message...

Very often people agree or disagree with their opinions about a film... I watched the movie with a representative number of persons and all of them found the movie very recommendable and beautiful.

All of us were children and the magic of that unforgettable period of our lives is reflected in this great film.

8 out of 10...

200 people were attending this movie in the theater, when the light went back after the movie was finished, nobody had moved, all the eyes were red. When Jean-Baptiste sings, it just takes you by your guts. The story is fantastic, the music is magic, Jugnot is expectedly grandiose... The picture itself is made "à la" 50s, it's very special but truly desserves the highest awards. I cannot give anything below 10 here. I swear you'll love this movie, if you don't, get back to your pop corn bucket and go and watch that Riddick sh1te, at least you'll get what you desserve.

...

As a public school choir director I was thrilled to see a movie that celebrated the joy of singing. At the end of the semester I ran "The Chorus" for all of my students and the response was astounding. A French film with subtitles that kept the rehearsal room totally silent for two days of classes. Fantastic.

I sincerely hope this fine film is given an honest opportunity to succeed in the U.S. We don't need a Disney remake in English with updated pop songs. This charming import is the real deal.

As a teacher I always trust the sometimes brutal honesty that high school students express about films and music. My experience this semester has been that "The Chorus" is a winner.

If you like this movie recommend it to others as it deserves to find its audience.

Spoilers

Taking France by storm this summer, Les choristes purportedly led to a surge in applications to join choirs all over the country. The magic is unquestionably in the music, but I'll come to that later.

The success of Les choristes as a film (with or without the divine music) lies in its not trying to be anything more than what it is, a simple tale that opens up to you instead of manipulating you. You'll find neither heart-breaking poignancy nor rousing heroism. Within the short duration of a school term or two he spent with the somewhat notorious boarding school, teacher and musician Clement Mathieu had his modest ambition fulfilled, of having a choir sing the music he wrote, then moved along to a continuously modest life of teaching and music. Talented protégé Pierre Morhange did achieve fame and success, but we have essentially been spared laboured scenes of Titanic struggles or exuberant jubilation. To ensure that I'm not misleading towards the other extreme, let me hasten to add that Les choristes does touch our hearts. It does this gently, sensibly.

But in the end, it's the music. Purely the celestial beauty of the music alone will brings tears to the appreciative audiences' eyes. The story is touching. The character are likable. But the ultimate magic is the choir and boy soprano Jean-Baptiste Maunier chosen from two thousand auditions. Such a magical choice.

The excellent film "The Choir" takes us back to a France of the past where the director Christophe Barratier and Philippe Lopes-Curval place their story about a school for problem children.

In a way, we have seen similar situations where a good teacher is the catalyst for turning around a group of unruly students into good and productive young men and women. Mathieu Clement, is such a man. His kindness toward the children is returned to him by the students, as they respond to the way he teaches music to motivate and interest them. M. Clement has a keen sense of how to deal with the students; instead of the hard line approach the principal, Rachin, insists in dealing with them, he has other ways to make them change.

The music created by the film director, M. Barratier, and Bruno Coulais, gives the film the right tone. We also hear a song by Rameau, "La Nuit", which is sung with such sweetness that it disarms us and get us into the right mood for enjoying "The Choir" even more.

The film owes a great deal to Gerard Jugnot, who plays the kind teacher who sees possibilities among all these kids. His take on Mathiew Clement is the right one, because the children see in him someone that is the opposite of the other teachers and the mean principal. As the director of the school, Francois Berleand does a good job in portraying this egotistical man who can't see what his own cruelty is doing to the young people in his charge.

The children are as sweet as one expects them to be. Especially Jean Baptiste Maunier, who plays the young Pierre Morhange. Also an angelic Maxence Perrin enchants the viewer as the young orphan Pepinot. Marie Bunel plays Pierre's mother well.

This film is music to the ears of viewers, young and old.

Boys as a group are perhaps the least understood human beings among us. Les Choristes invites our understanding of their sensibility, sensitivity, and the ease with which they are treated badly -- in fact, have always been treated badly by institutions, educators and parents. The importance of fathers in their lives and their great need for a surrogate if the natural fathers are missing are beautifully explored in this film. The screenplay and its realization on screen are very effective in showing how the difficult combination of giving boys strong direction and tenderness and finding a way to their hearts can be accomplished. This film helps us understand how the same human creature can be hard and sullen one moment and sweetly spiritual the next, inaccessible one minute and needy the next. It is also an inspiring film for young men preparing to be teachers.

This is funny how people get from one extreme to another about this movie. When I saw the movie it was in a Citadelle in an open air cinema by the French Riviera (Villefranche sur Mer, very very nice). The friend I went to see it with said to me: "I give you the tissues now because I predict you will cry like a baby". And I cried like a baby. The story made me think about Sister Act ONLY IN THE STORY!!! A failed musician converting a group of difficult children into a choir... But this version of the story is way above the American one. Gérard Jugnot is really great. I like him very much since he has abandoned his comic roles. I loved him in Le meilleur Espoir Feminin and Monsieur Batignole. I think he's an great actor as he can convey a lot of emotions, from laughter to sincere emotion. At last, the fact that all the children are not professional actors adds to the sincerity of the film which should won at least an Academy Award this year if the Americans still can be sensitive about sincerity...

This is a marvelous ode to classic music , to childhood plenty of innocence , friendship , cooperation , curiosity and comradeship . Being inspired by the film La Cage Aux Rossignols (1945). It revolves around the widely successful orchestra conductor Pierre Morhange (Jacques Perrin) , who reminisces about his childhood inspirations when he and his former classmate Pépinot (Didier Flamand) read the diary of their old music teacher Clément Mathieu (Gérard Jugnot , thanks to this box-office film he earned the title of the highest-paid French player in 2004, overtaking Jean Reno , Jean Dujardin , Vincent Perez and Gérard Depardieu). Set in 1948, in the post-war season at rural ¨Fond De L'Etang Internat¨ , there arrives a watcher as well as professor of music , Clement Mathieu , as he becomes the supervisor at a boarding school for the rehabilitation for minors . What he discovers disconcerts him , as the current situation is repressive with a stiff-upper-lip Principal (Francois Berland) who ruthlessly punishes some rebel kiddies . This troubled ragbag of lop-sided children is unwittingly awaiting an empathetic patron who believes in transformation through the conductor's baton rather than the cane executed by the headmaster . As Clement becomes into an enlightened Samaritan pedagogue with hopes for their hearts . While , a young Morhange is the badly behaved son of single mother Violette (Marie Bunel) and Clement brightens up the school and assembles a choir , leading to the discovery of Morhange's musical and physical talents and a transformation in the children . Through the power of song , Clement tries to turn the students . And Clement's ditzy fancy for one boy's mother stretches the plot .

French cinema has a great ability in dealing with films about childhood , with interesting and thought-provoking messages that are a clear example of an allegory of notorious values , such as friendship , honor , philanthropy , collaboration and mistreating denounce . This is an splendid ode to childhood , a nostalgic trip to the past in which we become children along half and hour , where everything was discovered , in which the songs and chorus were serious things . Sincere in its sentimentality , it is cutely optimist that believes in the redemption as metaphor of the golden heart . It's a kid's movie but its strength lies in its universal character , not a story just for kids , it's for everyone . This entertaining film displays a colorful as well as evocative cinematography as well as a wonderful musical score . Boarding school movies hit a peak with ¨Jean Vigo's Zero De Conduite¨, ¨Lindsay Anderson's If¨ and ¨Truffaut's 400's blows¨ , but this French box office takes its enjoyable inspiration from a different tradition , the motivational piety , goodness and mirth of ¨Goodbye Mr Chips¨ and its wake . Awesome acting by Gerard Jugnot -also co-producer- as a decorous , self-minded chorus conductor , not instantly set for the unabashed hostility his students show him . Support cast is frankly magnificent with the acting more self-contained than the constantly swelling soundtrack , as the following actors shine : Kad Merad , Jacques Perrin , Francois Berland , Didier Flamand , and the child angel face Jean-Baptiste Maunier who was the soloist of Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc , and other actual boys choir soloists .

Principal photography by Jean-Jacques Bouhon , Dominique Gentil , Carlo Varini took place on location at the Château De Ravel in Puy-De-Dôme . Using foam and salt as artificial snow and green leaves were removed from the grounds , since the beginning of the movie was filmed in the summer, but set in the Winter . As it was filmed in the middle of summer which was hard for the actors to wear winter clothes . A model of the boarding school featured in the film at a miniature railway museum in Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne and fog machines were also used around the castle . It features a sensitive soundtrack , which was composed by Bruno Coulais and performed by the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra , conducted by Deyan Pavlov and the choir Les Petits Chanteurs De Saint-Marc , as the producers chose to hire real boys choir soloist . It displays heartwarming , sentimental choral performances in general , the Chorus translates into a strong , albeit repetitive album.

The motion picture was well directed by Christophe Barratier (L'outsider , París, París , War of the buttons) who gives an approach exquisite and original ; in fact , this was the #1 movie at the French box office , with more than 8.6 million admissions . It is a great portrait about unfortunate post-war orphans , appointed to children as well as adults .

This award winning French film is a frothy little confection. Short on plot (what plot?)or indeed on just about everything else too, it nevertheless took me on a wonderful trip with its music. Gerard Jugnot(and does anybody else out there think he's a dead ringer for Bob Hoskins?)shines as the inspired music teacher, a beautiful performance. There's little to the script or the other characters who are all drawn in the black and white mode so beloved of Hollywood,i.e. the headmaster: bad, the injured old caretaker: a saint. A few throwaway lines about the headmaster's daughters goes nowhere, ***minor spoiler***as does the taking of Papinot (aren't there, like, laws about such things?)from the school.***end of spoiler***. We have seen all of this in other movies, often done better but the music transports as does the cinematography which is highly evocative of the era. So a 7 out of 10 for those.

This is a film to make the soul sing.

A new warden, Clément Mattieu, (Gérard Jugnot) arrives at an "internat", what is to all extent and purposes a borstal, to find boys out of control and a sadistic head (jean-Paul Bonnaire). Clément begins a choir and small changes begin...

"Les Choristes" is a marvel - here there is little posing and much poise - all the parts are well done, especially Jugnot and the children. they seem to have gathered the most natural group of children I have seen in a long time. Their acting reminded me of Danny Boyle's Millions - though that is a modern fable it has much the same effect - but "Les Choristes" has not one dud scene it.

The time flies by watching this - as things get desperate then better.

Of course, the music is wonderful, and the part of Pierre Mohange (jean-Baptiste Maunier) is beautifully played. The pacing is perfection, nothing is rushed, and we are left to understand the utter misery as well as the joy here for all along the way - it is not a fairytale - though it does lift the soul wonderfully by its end

This is only director Christophe Barratier's second feature film and is extremely impressive on that basis.

Highest recommendation.

Immensely charming, and very watchable.

The film is uplifting. A physically unimpressive teacher in a boarding school for poor, vagabond kids spots singing talent and transforms the lives of scores of children through what he knows best--conducting choral music.

How much does this film differ from Peter Weir's brilliant "Dead poet's society" or even the Sidney Poitier film "To sir, with Love?" Precious little. The director Christophe Barratier likes music and therefore makes a film with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 a rarity among French films unless they want to go very commercial. He even casts his own uncle Jacques Perrin.. The film was showcased at the on-going Dubai International Film Festival.

The film has made an indelible impact on those who like music and those who have not been exposed to a wide range of cinema. To them the effort would seem remarkable. To others, the film is merely good clean entertainment, charming and uplifting. But in terms of cinema, what's new?

A middle-aged musician, Clement Mathieu (Gerard Jugnot), arrives at a boarding school for delinquent boys, Fond de l'Etang (Rock Bottom), with fear about his ability to handle the job of teacher and supervisor. His fears become even more real when he meets the overbearing headmaster Rachin (Francois Berleand), a man who takes out his frustrations by dolling out excessive punishments to the children. This is the premise of The Chorus (Les Choristes), a skillfully acted but by-the-numbers effort that fails to deliver any real emotional substance.

Mathieu discovers that some of the boys can sing very well, especially troublemaker Pierre Morhange (Jean-Baptiste Maunier) whose boy soprano voice has a purity that is almost angelic. The teacher pursues a relationship with Pierre's mother Violette (Marie Bunel) and encourages her to visit the school more often, but she falls in love with an engineer without considering Mathieu as a potential father for her son.

The teacher molds the delinquent boys into a heavenly choir (without a great deal of trial and error) and develops a positive relationship with most of them that demonstrates the redemptive power of music and further frustrates the surly headmaster. Although I did find The Chorus entertaining and truly enjoyed some gorgeous music, most of the characters are well-worn stereotypes and the film does not explore any possibilities beyond its tried and true formula.

There's an air of romance surrounding wayward boys, particularly in the French tradition, where they tend to be poetic as well as mischievous. In "The Chorus," Christophe Barratier draws on this tradition and adds some lovely vocal sounds. "The Chorus" is about an "internat" or reform school where a new principal who writes music tames his young charges, some naughty, some just abandoned, by teaching them to sing in a boys' chorus. The school director, Rachin (sounds like Nurse Ratched), François Berléand (of Jacquot's "The School of Flesh"), is a prissy sadist who preaches a philosophy of instant punishment for all real or imagined wrongdoing ("action-reaction"); but when the new principal, Clément Mathieu (Gérard Jugnot) shows up with a soft approach to his classes and his supervisory duties, he finds allies among the faculty and staff.

"The Chorus" advances the frequently screened theory that delinquent kids are better charmed than chastened; that if you can find a positive activity they excel in, the misbehavior will die out.

Barratier has had good success with his young actors. The most important boy is the "tête d'ange" (head of an angel), tall, fair-haired Morhange (Jean-Baptiste Maunier), who's often in trouble and refuses to join the choir, till Mathieu catches him singing by himself and discovers his star soloist. Morhange's voice possesses not only a rich natural musicality but the haunting purity only boy sopranos have. Morhange has the most attractive mother, and Mathieu's success in encouraging the boy's singing makes the pudgy, bald man fantasize romance with her -- thus incidentally clearing himself of the suspicion of pedophilia that tends to haunt any all-boys school setting. Mathieu's romantic dream is futile, and he humbly fades away at the story's end, like some Gallic pied piper of boy soprano-dom.

"The Chorus" takes place in post-war France and its topic and look establish immediate links with a bevy of seminal French films. Wayward French boys turn up in boarding schools that are places of both repression and refuge, as you can see in Jean Vigo's school revolution in "Zero for Conduct" (1933). The beloved textbook of the French bad-boy tradition is Alain-Fournier's "Le Grand Meaulnes" (The Wanderer), which was notably filmed by Jean-Pierre Albicocco in 1967. The tradition becomes more autobiographical in Truffaut's 1959 400 Blows, which introduced the director's alter ego, Jean-Pierre Léaud; and in Malle's moving and long-contemplated memoir of a boarding school in wartime, "Au Revoir les Enfants" (1987). Jean Cocteau mythologized a bad-boy idol who haunted him all his life in the Dargélos of "Les Enfants Terribles" (1950), made into yet another classic film by Jean-Pierre Melville. This whole idea has remaining traces in the feral youth Gaspard Ulliel plays in André Téchiné's recent "Strayed." "The Chorus," it is true, is a relatively conventional entry; except for adding music, it rides upon, rather than transcends, the tradition. But it's a warm story with much charm and little pretension.

Barratier himself is a talented musician who, like Mathieu, has drifted into other things. A trained classical guitarist, he won several international competitions after studying at the prestigious École Normale de Musique in Paris, and played professionally for several years. But in 1991 he joined Galatée films to train under his uncle, the renowned actor, producer and writer Jacques Perrin -- who bookends "The Chorus" as a Morhange who has grown up into a famous classical conductor. For the next decade Barratier was an associate producer and collaborated with Perrin on "Children of Lumière," "Microcosmos," "Himalaya" and "Winged Migration." Now he has turned his hand to fiction and directed his own film, with success. There is a risk of preciosity and sweetness, mostly avoided by the dryness of both Mathieu and Rachin as characters, as well as the surviving wickedness of the boys, especially an arch bad-boy, Mondain (Grégory Gatignol). The point of view is Mathieu's and the mature Morhange's, so the film doesn't go as deep into the boys' psyches as it goes into their voice boxes.

The director is well connected. He's the son of film actress Eva Simonet and besides his uncle his grandparents were also theater people. The Chorus was top box office in France after its release in March 2004. The French critical reception was pretty mixed, and the film's been reviled by some in the United States as (in one writer's words) "unbelievably inane, saccharine, and derivative"; "all smooth, nutrient-free clichés." Even thumbs-up king Roger Ebert didn't like it: "this feels more like a Hollywood wannabe than a French film," he wrote. "Where's the quirkiness, the nuance, the deeper levels?" But it's really a cleanly made, simple, humanistic, and satisfying little film with far less pandering than its critics claim, and whether we like it or not, it's the French Best Foreign Oscar entry, and the little chorus is likely to perform " Vois sur ton chemin" on Awards night (if their voices haven't changed). The relatively minimal mise-en-scène and the period setting link it more with its classic film antecedents than with the overproduced "Very Long Engagement" (Jeunet's film's Oscar nominations are for décor and photography). Derivative and conventionally themed? Yes. Barratier has acknowledged "The Chorus's" inspiration in an earlier film, "La Cage aux Rossignols" (The Nightingales' Cage, 1945), which has the same premise -- and anyone can name a long list of movies about teachers who charm their wayward flock. None of them feels -- or sounds -- quite like this movie, though. And the boys do their own singing: the "tête d'ange" really has the "voix d'ange." American reviewers, missing the nuances, plug Les Choristes into "Mr. Holland's Opus" or "Dead Poets Society" and find it stereotypically schmaltzy. The gentler French critics don't see those crude comparisons and are able to call it "un beau film" and find in it a satisfying example of "cinéma populaire." We can too if we open up to it.

What a beautiful little film that is engaging and enchanting from the very first scene. Even the harshness of life in a correctional boarding school is treated with simplicity without resorting to gratuitous violence.

Gerard Jugnot delivers an excellent portrait of a school prefect who has no great talent other than a humanity and devotion to the students under his care. History shows that this ordinary individual has a talent for spotting genius in others and by the conclusion of the film we are exuberant at the rounding off of each theme and character.

I defy anyone not to have a tear running down their cheek at some stage of this film. It tugs at the heart strings and is uplifting at the same time. In particular the two final scenes warrant special attention and acclaim. The view of tiny little hands all saying their own farewell is one of the most moving scenes I have seen in any movie.

Les Choristes truly deserves wide acclaim and the sacrifice made by Gerard Jugnot in helping finance the film is a credit to his belief in this script and a reward for delivering such a wonderful family film.

This film restores a balance to humanity and highlights the dignity of ordinary human beings and the hope we all have for happiness and to leave our mark on the world.

This is a beautiful movie. I am a French teacher and when I show this movie to my high school students, they love it! The music teacher is now using one of the songs in the movie with her students, too. Touching, moving story, with excellent actors and inspiring music. Who said that today's kids only care about violent movies? Show them good stuff and they will love it! Superb entertainment for all ages (rated 13 in the US, I believe for some language), I don't see a problem showing it to younger kids. This is a movie that will make you feel good, light, and will make you want to sing! American audiences may find the pace a little slow, but it is a movie worth watching.

A child in the enlightenment, can meet a good teacher, is really a very lucky thing.

A teacher arrives at a boarding school for disruptive boys in 1940's France where he is able to tame his pupils through channelling their energies towards forming a choir.

I had high expectations of this as reviews had overall been extremely complimentary. However, I felt this was a fairly dull and unengaging effort which never really touched me at all.

The main actor was very good in his role, the children performed admirably and the other actors were also good. In addition the camerwork and overall style was proficient. However, it just seemed all a bit too smoothly done, feeling a lot more like a typical Hollywood film than your average French Film. There appeared to be no depth to it just a typically packaged film that tried too hard to appeal to ones emotions.

By getting nominated for Academy Awards in both the Foreign Language Film and Best Song categories, Les Choristes (The Chorus) made a rare (for a European film) double impression at the 2004 Oscars. This sentimental tale follows the arrival of a new teacher at a remote boys school in 1949 France (the war is a largely unspoken but ghostly presence). With disciplinary problems rampant, and the policies of the old-fashioned headmaster not helping, Monsieur Mathieu decides to introduce choral singing as a way to bridge the gap with his students. You don't need a crystal ball to figure out where this will go, although the movie uses its atmospheric location and lush vocal arrangements well. Bald, dumpy Gerard Jugnot provides a refreshingly offbeat hero (though securely in the traditions of the My Most Memorable Teacher movie); he's sort of a younger Philippe Noiret. Director Christophe Barratier works in the winsome-cute mode that makes a certain kind of French movie into an overly sweet Bone Bone, although at least this Bone Bone sings.

A new supervisor at a strict boys boarding school for difficult children gets remarkable love and respect by teaching them music and getting the boys to form a choir. Sugary, unbelievable, but the script is deft enough to keep us interested all the way through. Touches of 'Amelie', the French are learning how to make American style confectionery-cinema. This is box-office fodder - nothing wrong with that - just that we have always expected something more of French cinema. But commercial hits can also pave the way for art by providing the necessary cash flow, and we can only hope that French cinema will not entirely disown its great cultural heritage. Meanwhile, this is entertaining in a minor scale. No substance, but quite delightful (and wonderful singing!).

In one word: incredible! It was surely one of the best movies I know. It has got a special charm to it, and the story is wonderful. The acting was very good, and the singing even more! The music is unbelievable, and when it's combined with the singing it just lift you up! You drift into this magical story, and won't leave it until the very last minute. Les Choristes is an easy-to-watch movie, even without subtitles. The movie involves action and a sad but eventually happy story. It is a moving story which deserves these 10 stars. It's a professional picture and an excellent movie! Watch it ASAP! You won't regret it!

A new teacher comes to a boarding school for orphans and difficult children. He'll try to endear himself to them by creating a choir.

As you can see the argument is in broad terms the same you've watched in dozens of movies, the characters are a little bit stereotyped (a good teacher, an evil director, a bad guy that eventually turns into the teacher's best friend...). Anyway, is there anything left to talk about in cinema or in literature? No, there's not. I think almost everything's been told by now.

So "Les choristes" is not the most original film ever , but the film-making is pretty nice and is full of tender, sense of humor, optimism and good values. It was one of the most successful European movies of the last year, the film everybody's been talking about round here. Those who like chorale music will be specially thrilled, and the rest of you will have a nice time with a good and kind movie, with such remarkable actors.

*My rate: 7/10

"La cage aux rossignols" ,released in 1945,was one of the last movies of the occupation days ."Les choristes" ,although they have transposed the action to the fifties,hints at it when a young brat breaks into "maréchal ,nous voilà!" ,anthem of those dark years.The question is:was it necessary to redo?Yes the songs are splendid and are likely to become part of the repertoire of all the French schools .Yes the boy who plays Morange mesmerizes the audience ,and like Brigitte Fossey ("jeux interdits" ) or Benoit Magimel ("la vie est un long fleuve tranquille" ) he may become an actor when he grows up.

The original screenplay has undergone some changes:it has become a long flashback ,with an ending which focuses one more time on success and fame ,borrowing more from "Professor Holland's opus" than from Dreville's old flick.The rebel pupil's sister has become an unmarried mother,which was unthinkable in the Petain years.Producer Jacques Perrin -who has seen better days,artistically speaking- appears as the umpteenth version of the ugly duckling turned into a swan.

And finally the Jugnot vehicle has the same drawbacks as its model:the kids become quickly much too quickly a heavenly choir ,andwe do know that, in both movies ,the young actors are choristers in real life.The characters remain cardboard and Gérard Jugnot is neither better nor worse than Noël-Noël .

What's amazing is that generally "la cage aux rossignols" is dismissed as cheesy and maudlin (its rating is average) whereas its remake is praised to the skies.It's the same old song though.